Diary of a First Time Mom

Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

With Wyatt being so busy yesterday, he just did not want to stop to nap all day.  This resulted in him waking in the night every two hours.  So this morning, we spent all our time in bed and in pajamas.

In His Santa PJs

A three hour nap this afternoon has resulted in a mellow and lovely evening, and after two yawns, he looked at me and said -ok mommy, it’s time for bed.  Seacrest out.  It really reminds me of the early Baby Whisperer days where I read how the more the baby naps in the day, the better they sleep at night.  It seemed like the opposite of how it should be, but as he was not beat down exhausted tonight, he got to unwind in a nice relaxed way and let sleep creep in.

I do not want to jinx anything, but I have a feeling he will have a very long and restful sleep tonight.  So shall we all!

Tomorrow I hope to post a video of him walking.  So far every time I start recording, something happens…  so watch this space!

What a difference four days makes!

Today, running errands with Wyatt seemed… dare I say… easy!

Colors are brighter.  Food tastes better!  Am I in love….?  Well yes, but that is not the point here.

I.  Feel.  Rested!

For the first time this year, I actually feel fully rested and energized.  Which probably means I’m only at about  75%.  But compared to running at 30% all year, that is damn good.  Taking advise, (finally!), to nap when Wyatt naps, and go to bed when he does (at 8pm) for four nights in a row…  I feel like a human being!  That being said, Wyatt is going down for his second nap today, and I have not napped yet.  Back on the nap wagon tomorrow.  Today I have work to do!

The one very interesting thing I noticed was that every time Wyatt napped, I thought I was not tired.  Till I put my head to the pillow.  I actually heard my body sigh a sigh of relief.  Who knew how exhausted I was?!  Is everyone this tired and we just don’t notice it?  Is that why we pay $5 for a cup of coffee to keep us going?  I am glad to be resting my adrenals for probably the first time in my adult life.  And it feels very strange.  Like, isn’t there something I should be doing…  zzzzzzzzz……

With so much going on in Wyatt’s life, it’s no wonder he does not want to stop.  Ever.  Or so it seems…

We are still waiting on the top row of extremely swollen gums to produce pearly whites.  In the mean time, he is working away at learning to walk, exploring the world as it expands for him, and chewing on everything in sight.  But that leaves virtually no time for things like napping, eating, and signaling for the potty.  It has definitely been a week of surprises…

Helping at Whole Foods

Today we went shopping at Whole Foods and Walmart.  Both stores were busy and exciting for Wyatt.  He has suddenly gone from enjoying sitting in the cart, to wanting to stand and climb out.  And devour the shopping list.  And the pen.  And the coupons…  As challenging this makes things, I find it exciting to see him so interested in everything.  Ev-ery-thing.  And of course he is always making new friends in all the shops too.  So we are adjusting as he moves into the new phase of learning.

As the old saying goes… Parenthood, just when you “get it”, everything changes!

Baby Whisperer Techniques Diary – Day One Recap and into Day Two

Yesterday we started implementing the techniques from the book The Baby Whisperer.  It follows the idea that babies need a routine.  I agree with this and so we are giving it a try.  The book says that if your baby wakes up in the middle of the night to feed, he did not get enough to eat in the day.  Hmmm.  I found this intriguing.  Especially since Wyatt’s doctor said he could use a few more pounds on him for his age.

Up until last night, Wyatt has been waking up once at about 3:30 am each night.  I would feed him in the day every three hours, ending with a bottle feed at around midnight.  The new schedule has him on a 3 hour feeding schedule until 4pm.  Then I am supposed to feed him at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm, ending with a “dream feed” (where you don’t wake him to feed him) at 10pm before putting him back to bed.  After about a week on this, he should sleep through to 5 or 6am.  Sounds like heaven.  The only thing is, Scott has been feeding Wyatt at 3:30am most nights.  So when we started this last night, he woke up at 2am.  I managed to drag it out until 4:15am when I finally got up to feed him.  So now I am in the world of being up at 2am, 3am, 3:15am, 4am, 4:15 am until 5:30 am.  Then up again at 7am to start day two of the new schedule.

No problem, I said!  I will feed him and go to bed right afterwards and have about 90 mins of continuous sleep to recharge me for the next feed at 10am.  Ha.  Ha.  Ha…  Well, I cut corners as I was so tired.  Instead of feeding him for the recommended 45 minutes (the E of E.A.S.Y.), I cut it to 30.  Then I did not do the recommended 30 minutes of activity time (The A of E.A.S.Y.).  So needless to say, the S (for sleep) was compromised.  Got 20 mins of sleep before he woke up, mad and overtired and unable to get back to sleep.  I did the big no-no and took him to bed with me finally, after about 45 mins of unsuccessful calming techniques.  Even then he was unhappy.  So I fed him half an hour early.  Then we had an extra 15 mins of activity time which included changing his diaper and clothes.  Yes, I changed him into ‘day’ clothes so even though I am still in my pajamas, my son looks like he is ready to go to the mall.

Action Shot

And then he started to yawn.  Hurray!  So I followed instructions and took the cues of his sleepiness.  I got him all swaddled up.

(sidenote:  I think the term “swaddled” should also be used as a replacement for “hammered”.  It just sounds right.  “Last night I got totally swaddled.”  Or, “I want to get chocolate swaddled!” for you Adam Sandler fans.)

Continuing with the instructions, I held him upright in his swaddle for a few minutes in the room he sleeps in (ahem, our room, but in his own bassinet) so he could transition between all the action of changes and dancing (see photo above), to the calm environment that he could relax in and go to sleep.

Then I put him in his bed.  He took a big breath as if to start yelling but then didn’t.  Probably because he was SO tired from not sleeping the last time.  Anyway, I sat there and watched as he settled down, needing a bit of reassurance from me.  But not much.  And then his eyes started to close.  I can’t tell you how great that feels to see your baby finally drift off to sleep by himself.  Like I had put a man on the moon!  That left me about 2 hours to myself.  I still have not napped, but I had a big breakfast!

Funny.  I had planned on writing my first BW (Baby Whisperer) entry about how it’s been a nightmare.  But really it hasn’t.  Sometimes it just seems like it.  For example, when he cries and I can’t fix his problem, it seems like it goes on forever.  But when I look at the clock it may have only been five minutes.  Amazing what perspective can do.

I think this schedule thing will work after we stick to it for a while.  The only thing I have trouble with is how many times I feed him, so close together.  But that too will get easier.  I look forward to that blissful morning when I wake up to discover that he has slept all the way though.  (He did this once a few weeks ago, but I think it was a fluke)

Until then, I will enjoy the ride!

As we are winding down the last few weeks, it seems like there is more and more that needs to be done, and less energy to do it.  This was a problem when I was not sleeping so well and awake every 90 minutes.  Apparently sleeping on one side for more than an hour when you are seven months pregnant causes some discomfort.  Luckily I have two sides!  Unfortunately it seems to take me an hour to flip over…  Oh well.

What has really helped is walking.  I was concerned about walking because the Dude is getting so heavy that all the ligaments and stuff are pulling and causing some strain.  But from what I can tell, walking strengthens all these muscles and I really do feel better afterwards.  Milhouse likes it too!

Add in these new breathing techniques / meditations that I am doing and I actually am finding that I can sleep for about 4 uninterrupted hours!  I have been reading Calm Birth by Robert Newman.  It is interesting because I don’t really even remember buying the book, but there it was on my shelf.  Calm Birth goes into the history of women healers and really emphasizes the innate wisdom we have within ourselves and that by tapping into this wisdom, we have all the solutions for any problem.  It talks about separating the ideas of pain and fear.  And how fear of pain can be much worse than pain itself.  Pain lives in the present moment.  Fear depends on your projection into the future of what “might be” to survive.  All this I find fascinating, and look forward to putting into practice in a few weeks.

I also am surprised to be reading a birthing book written by a man.  But I guess Lamaze and Bradley were men too.  So why not?

The book recommends buying the companion audio cd.  You don’t have to as the book contains the guided meditations in written form, but I prefer to sit and listen, plus it is accompanied by nice music.  There are three meditations on the cd and the purpose is varied.  So far we have listened to the first one that works on relaxing the body and connecting with the Dude.  Pretty neat stuff, only we keep falling sleep half way through!  But still, it must be working…  I am however reminded of Chandler’s ‘quit-smoking’ tapes he played while sleeping, in one Friends episode.  ”You are a strong and beautiful woman…”  Still makes me chuckle.

The combination of listening to the cd and having walked seems to be the perfect ingredients to a good night’s sleep!  Let’s hope this continues!